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Re: A "no cost" way to support diversity at ALA, IRA and other conferences - An alternate view
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From: Stacy Whitman <stacylwhitman_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2014 12:26:24 -0500
Daniel Nayeri has already covered quite a bit of what the CBC Diversity Committee does, and Cheryl Klein today also reposted her email from last year about the CBC Diversity Committee (see http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/2014/02/in-defense-of-cbc-diversity-and-on.html). They have done and do great things that shouldn't be dismissed.
The only thing I can add to it is that there are limits to what they can do. For example, any resource that they provide only features books and authors from member publishers. I was a founding member of the CBC Diversity Committee, but was limited as to the participation of my books and authors because Lee & Low is not a CBC member. Now that I've rotated off the committee (and I was only allowed as a member of the committee because I was a founding member of the group of editors who started it before it became associated with the CBC), my books can no longer be featured by them.
I point this out not to cast aspersions on the committee or the CBC, but to point out that it is limited in scope by definition as to what it can do to support the industry as a whole, because it only serves publishers who are members of it, not the entire industry. If an author of color is published by a publisher that is not a member of the CBC, and the Diversity Committee were to have put together some sort of listing of all the author signings at a conference, that author's events could not be put on any calendar put out by them on their official site.
They've been great about sharing non-CBC-member information on sites that are not officially hosted by them (their LibraryThing book lists, on Tumblr), but anywhere that list was shared on official CBC sites, non-member publisher books could not be featured.
So it creates a tiered effect, where some books/authors/publishers are prioritized over others. I understand the reasoning behind it--they are a trade association and must serve their members, and paying members might get upset that they're sharing information about non-members. But it does create a situation of inequality that is problematic.
That said, I do appreciate the good that the CBC Diversity Committee can do and does. They have done a lot toward the goals we set at the beginning, to work toward more diversity in the publishing houses, in the books themselves, and in seeking out authors. I just wish that it were more able to serve the needs of the whole industry equally.
Best,
Stacy Whitman Publisher Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books swhitman_at_leeandlow.com
On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 10:01 PM, Lucine Kasbarian
<lucinekasbarian_at_aol.com>wrote:
> I assume that you mean for conventions, Barbara.
>
> Perhaps a highly visible, motivated and influential publisher with a
> benevolent streak -- or better yet -- the CBC Diversity Committee -- could
> set up a low-maintenance, author signing space online in the way that Poets
> & Writers has done for author events, which is self-submitting by the
> authors in question?
>
> http://www.pw.org/calendar
> --
>
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 2014 12:26:24 -0500
Daniel Nayeri has already covered quite a bit of what the CBC Diversity Committee does, and Cheryl Klein today also reposted her email from last year about the CBC Diversity Committee (see http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/2014/02/in-defense-of-cbc-diversity-and-on.html). They have done and do great things that shouldn't be dismissed.
The only thing I can add to it is that there are limits to what they can do. For example, any resource that they provide only features books and authors from member publishers. I was a founding member of the CBC Diversity Committee, but was limited as to the participation of my books and authors because Lee & Low is not a CBC member. Now that I've rotated off the committee (and I was only allowed as a member of the committee because I was a founding member of the group of editors who started it before it became associated with the CBC), my books can no longer be featured by them.
I point this out not to cast aspersions on the committee or the CBC, but to point out that it is limited in scope by definition as to what it can do to support the industry as a whole, because it only serves publishers who are members of it, not the entire industry. If an author of color is published by a publisher that is not a member of the CBC, and the Diversity Committee were to have put together some sort of listing of all the author signings at a conference, that author's events could not be put on any calendar put out by them on their official site.
They've been great about sharing non-CBC-member information on sites that are not officially hosted by them (their LibraryThing book lists, on Tumblr), but anywhere that list was shared on official CBC sites, non-member publisher books could not be featured.
So it creates a tiered effect, where some books/authors/publishers are prioritized over others. I understand the reasoning behind it--they are a trade association and must serve their members, and paying members might get upset that they're sharing information about non-members. But it does create a situation of inequality that is problematic.
That said, I do appreciate the good that the CBC Diversity Committee can do and does. They have done a lot toward the goals we set at the beginning, to work toward more diversity in the publishing houses, in the books themselves, and in seeking out authors. I just wish that it were more able to serve the needs of the whole industry equally.
Best,
Stacy Whitman Publisher Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books swhitman_at_leeandlow.com
On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 10:01 PM, Lucine Kasbarian
<lucinekasbarian_at_aol.com>wrote:
> I assume that you mean for conventions, Barbara.
>
> Perhaps a highly visible, motivated and influential publisher with a
> benevolent streak -- or better yet -- the CBC Diversity Committee -- could
> set up a low-maintenance, author signing space online in the way that Poets
> & Writers has done for author events, which is self-submitting by the
> authors in question?
>
> http://www.pw.org/calendar
> --
>
---
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Received on Fri 07 Feb 2014 11:27:50 AM CST
